


The One Where Pidge and Keith go to College

by MazeEternal



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, College AU, F/M, Female Pronouns for Pidge | Katie Holt, How Do I Tag, Hunk and Lance are best friends, I'm in Voltron Hell, Keith is a sweet older brother, M/M, Shiro and Keith and Pidge are adoptive siblings, Shiro is a mother hen, Space Dad Shiro (Voltron), This is trash, Tooth Rotting Fluff, but they're not in space, klance in future chapter, shallura in future chapter
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-10
Updated: 2016-11-01
Packaged: 2018-08-20 14:31:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 11,799
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8252560
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MazeEternal/pseuds/MazeEternal
Summary: “We’re going to starve as soon as the food runs out, aren’t we?”“Yep.”“We’re not gonna last the semester.”“Probably not.”--Or, the younger Shirogane siblings go to college, what could go wrong?





	1. Moving In

**Author's Note:**

> You're reading this, okay...  
> This happened because I'm burning in Voltron hell. My sister can attest to that.  
> This is tooth rotting fluff I'm warning you.

“I could stay. I could sleep on the couch for the first week, until you two get settled in. I’m sure I could call work and arrange something—”

“Shiro! We’re okay. We aren’t going to die or starve without you, I promise,” Keith put a hand on his adopted brother’s shoulder. “Kates and I are going to be fine. It’s college, not the end of the world.”

Shiro gave a long suffering sigh, “It feels like the end of the world.”

Pidge snorted, although Keith could see that her eyes were a little teary, “Shiro, you’re such a sap. Bro, we’re going to be fine. Don’t worry so much! I have a laptop and we have something like unlimited cash. Relax.”

Shiro nodded and smiled fondly as he ruffled her hair, “You’re right, you’re both going to do fine.”

                Keith shook his head and wondered how they’d even made it to this point. He and Shiro had been brothers since he was seven years old and their parents had adopted Pidge after the car accident that had taken the lives of her parents and her older brother Matt. Matt had been Shiro’s best friend and the blow had changed his brother; he’d become extremely protective of Keith and Pidge.

                Pidge—Katie, as only Keith was allowed to call her—was a genius and had graduated High School at fifteen instead of eighteen. Keith had graduated a year earlier, but had opted to take a year off school so that the two of them could start college together. He definitely didn’t regret his decision now that he could feel the tightness in his chest at only the thought of Shiro walking out of their apartment.

                Shiro had driven them four hours to Garrison University a few days ago (it’s a stupid name in Keith’s opinion, but it’s where Katie wanted to go) and, in spite of the presence of dormitories, the Shirogane siblings had decided to rent an apartment a few blocks away from school. They’d spent the last few days setting up bedrooms and arranging the living room, which now contained two large sofas, three bookcases filled with their favorite books, and a massive TV with all of Keith and Pidge’s videogame consoles and games. They had spent the final day buying food. Shiro had cooked up a storm and their fridge’s freezer was packed with frozen meals and the fridge was equally full of pre-prepared food. Keith and Pidge never forgot to count their blessings; the Shiroganes had taken them in and hadn’t been shy about sparing every expense to keep their kids comfortable.

“Mom and dad would’ve wanted to be here,” Shiro said as he took a last look around the apartment, stopping at one of the family portraits that hung on the wall.

Pidge reached out to him and Keith came to stand beside him and said, “Yeah, they would have. I think they’re okay with you being here though.”

“You’re the best big brother, Shiro,” Pidge added solemnly. “We will be okay.”

“I know,” he sighed. “I should go.”

Keith nodded, “You have a long drive back.”

“Alright,” Shiro sighed. “Be good to each other and call me if you need anything. Actually, just call me.”

“Every day,” Keith promised.

“We love you,” Pidge added and reached up to grab onto Shiro’s arm to pull herself up onto his hip.

                Keith grinned; Katie liked to clamber onto Shiro and him like a baby koala when she was having emotions she didn’t know how to express. This was obviously one of those times.

He reached over and hugged his brother’s other side, “She’s only saying it because I won’t.”

Shiro laughed, “It’s okay, I know you both love me. And I love you, even you both drive me insane half the time. That’s what family is, right?”

“You’re being a sap again,” Pidge chastised as she let herself drop down. “Okay go! You’re only gonna get home at like ten now.”

                It took another five minutes of hugging and promises to call and threats and reassurances before Shiro finally left the apartment. He’d still checked to make sure their beds were made, that they knew how to use the laundry cards, the stove and that the fridge was properly stocked and the TV was plugged in, and that the internet worked before finally leaving.

When the door closed, Keith let out a sigh partially of relief, but mostly of resignation as Pidge walked into their kitchen. The kitchen and the living room were only separated by an island that they’d opted to put bar stools around rather than get a table (“ _College students don’t have dining tables Shiro!”_ ).

Pidge opened the fridge and looked at all the food before turning to him, “We’re going to starve as soon as the food runs out, aren’t we?”

“Yep.”

“We’re not gonna last the semester.”

“Probably not,” he agreed walking over to her.

“I miss Shiro.”

“Me too.”

“What do we do, now?”

Keith reached out and closed the fridge before attempting to navigate the freezer, “We do our best to get by?”

Pidge frowned deeply, too preoccupied with the freezer Keith couldn’t see her, but he could hear it, “That’s not really an action plan, bro.”

“No, it’s not,” Keith smiled holding up his hard won prize from his battle with the freezer, “but eating a tub of black-cherry ice cream and watching Star Wars is.”

His sister grinned, “I’ll set up the movie, don’t forget the spoons.”

“When have I ever forgotten the spoons, Kates?” he scoffed as he searched through the drawers, _Where did Shiro hide the cutlery?_

“Um, do you really want me to answer that? The list is really long, we could be here all night.”

“Whatever, but we’re watching _The Force Awakens_.”

“No we’re not! We’re watching _Empire Strikes Back_!”

“Says who?”

“Says Shiro!”

 _Aha! Found the spoons!_ “He isn’t here!”

“Well, he always sides with me anyways!”

Keith sighed, “Fine. Let’s compromise and watch _A New Hope_ , we all like that one.”

“Okay yeah…”

                Several hours and a small debate on if Han Solo was a ten on a scale of one to ten or a twelve on the same scale (Keith won, _“Katie, it doesn’t really matter if it’s numerically accurate or not! I’m right!”_ ) later, Keith’s phone buzzed.

“Shiro’s calling.”

“Answer it!”

Keith smiled and answered the call, “Hey bro. Miss us?”

Shiro’s face appeared on the screen, “Yeah, I just got back. You two okay? What did you have for supper?”

“Um…” Pidge giggled. “Black cherry ice cream.”

“Kates! You can’t tell him that!”

“Oh my god! Do you need me to come back? Is the oven not working? Could you not heat up—”

“No! No, Shiro we’re fine. We’re okay. We just had a Star Wars night, that’s all.”

“Okay, but are you sure you don’t want me to—”

“Shiro!” Pidge cut him off. “You can’t quit your job and come live with us here just because you’re worried that Keith is going to let me have ice cream for every meal.”

“Which I won’t! I swear,” Keith put in quickly.

“Okay, well it’s late and you both have classes tomorrow,” Shiro said finally. “And I have work.”

“Yeah, okay,” Keith nodded.

“We love you, bro!” Pidge smiled brightly.

“Good night, Shiro.”

“Don’t forget to brush your teeth and have breakfast tomorrow, it’s really important.”

“GOOD NIGHT,  Shiro!” they repeated simultaneously.

“I love you both,” and he cut the call.

                There was a long moment of silence before they got up from the couch. Keith washed the spoons while Pidge went to change into her pyjamas—he had changed into his pyjamas before Shiro had left (“ _Why would I stay dressed when I’m at home?”)_ —and then they brushed their teeth together in the remarkably small bathroom.

“Maybe we should’ve let him come live with us…” she said eventually.

Keith grimaced, “No, what about Allura?”

“Oh, yeah. I guess she’d miss him, huh?” Pidge grinned. “Maybe he’ll finally get his act together and propose now that we’re not around.”

“I hope so, we could do with another adult in our lives,” Keith agreed smiling too.

“Bedtime?”

“Yeah,” he nodded and pressed a kiss to her forehead. “Sleep well, Pidgeon.”

She bristled, “Don’t call me that.”

                He smirked as he made his way into his bedroom. It was plain, not like his room at home that was filled with all of his favorite things, but it was enough. It had his bookcase of manga and novels and some of his posters. Shiro had even found him red curtains and sheets to help the room feel a little more like home. He smiled when he caught sight of his red lion plush toy sitting on top of his mountain of pillows.

“Hi Red,” he said softly as he climbed into bed, “I guess Shiro thought I would need you, huh?”

                He pulled out his battered copy of _Robin Hood_ that Shiro had gotten him for his tenth birthday and was about a chapter in when he heard the soft knock on his bedroom door.

“Keits?” a small voice called.

“Yeah, Kates?” he answered. “Come in, sis.”

Pidge walked in with her own green lion tucked under her arm and her tablet in her hand, she paused at the foot of the bed.

“What’s up, Kates?”

“Keits,” she paused. “Can-can I sleep with you tonight?

“Of course, come on,” he lifted the corner of the red duvet for her to crawl in next to him.

“Thanks,” her cheeks were a little pink. “I just…um…”

“You miss, Shiro,” he finished for her.

“Yeah.”

“It’s okay, I miss him too,” Keith put his book on the nightstand along with his sister’s tablet. “Let’s follow his advice and get some rest, ‘kay?”

“Yeah, okay,” Pidge smiled softly.

 _Dammit, Shiro, how do you do it? Being a full time older brother is so hard. I can barely keep it together with Katie for one night_ , Keith thought worriedly as his sister burrowed deeper into the duvet.

“Good night, Pidgeon.”

“Don’t call me that,” but the words were slurred and drowsy and she was asleep before the words had fully left her lips.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comments and Kudos are always appreciated.  
> Constructive criticism please. All hate will be ignored because "ain't nobody got time fo' that kinda negativity" and honestly? Why can't you just enjoy content?  
> Anyway, don't like don't be mean about it.  
> Thank you for reading! I really appreciate it.  
> Chapter two should be up next week.  
> Much love, Maze.


	2. Their First Day

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Keith and Pidge have their first day of college and meet some new friends.  
> Klance if you squint, I guess?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comments and Kudos make me happy. Thank you to all those who took the time to do so!
> 
> This chapter hasn't been beta-read so sorry if there are any mistakes!  
> Cookies to anyone who spots the JackScepticeye quote.

                Keith woke up with a face full of his sister’s caramel curls; she had crawled up onto his chest during the night.

“Kates,” he called quietly. “It’s time to get up.”

“No thank you,” she mumbled sleepily.

“Kates, we need to move.”

“Nope, that’s not happening. Sorry, brother.”

Keith sighed and reached blindly for his phone on the nightstand, it read 7:15AM. He had a physics class at 9:30 and Pidge had a programming class of some sort at 9. They needed to get up, in spite of the fact that Pidge obviously preferred the warmth of the blankets.

“Kates, come on, Shiro left us pancake batter. We’re gonna have pancakes with real Canadian syrup,” he tried appealing to her stomach, Pidge loved her food. “Doesn’t that sound good?”

“In a few hours maybe,” she grumbled.

Keith sighed in frustration, “Well, could you at least get off me so I can go pee?”

“Whaa—” Pidge shot up immediately. “Dammit! I hate it when I do that. Sorry, Keits.”

He snorted and got out of bed ready to comment on her sleeping habits, but she’d already fallen back to sleep cuddling both of the stuffed lions.

_Oh my god, Shiro, what do I do?_ Keith prayed as he shuffled around the bathroom and through the apartment trying to prepare breakfast. _I can’t be a responsible adult. I suck at being responsible and I’m barely an adult! I can’t drink in some states._

                For the second time in the past twenty four hours, Keith worried about his and Pidge’s survival without their older brother to look after them. He knew it was unfair to rely on Shiro for everything and he did have enough experience to maybe get himself through the week alive, but Pidge—little Katie, even if she was a genius with a badass attitude and could destroy him at Mario kart—was only fifteen and definitely still needed some adult guidance.

_You’ll manage, just remember that being an adult means sometimes doing things that you don’t like for reasons that you don’t always care about_ , his conscience sounded an awful lot like Shiro.

“Okay, Keith, you’ve got this,” he steeled himself and began to cook pancakes and eggs and bacon the way Shiro had taught him. “You aren’t going to burn down the apartment on your first day making breakfast.”

                It took him a good half hour to actually cook breakfast, but he was pleased with the result and had triple check that the stove was off before he set the island and poured the orange juice.

“That wasn’t too bad, only two near fires,” Keith sighed.

                Cooking had been the easy part; waking Pidge up was the hard part. She had burrowed deep into his red duvet and made herself a nest with the numerous pillows. Honestly, she looked so adorable and at peace that he almost didn’t want to wake her. In high school, their peers had sometimes commented that the Shirogane siblings were strangely close and gentle with each other. They didn’t fight the way normal siblings did. Their peers were mostly right.

**Bzzz.** A text from Shiro:

“ _Don’t forget to wake up and get to class!”_

**Bzzz. Bzzz.** More texts from Shiro:

_“Not that I don’t trust you. I know you’re both capable of being responsible.”_

_“I’m sorry if I overreacted yesterday.”_

**Bzzz.** Shiro again:

_“I’ll call you tonight. Have a good day at school!”_

**Bzzz.** Shiro…:

_“Okay, I trust you. I really do. But Keith, remember to wake Pidge up!_ ”

_“Oh my god, Shiro, Stop!”_ Keith replied before going over to the foot of the bed.

“Kates, it’s time to get up.”

“No thank you, Keits. I like it here.”

“Kates it’s my bed.”

“Fight me.”

“Fine,” their peers had only been _mostly_ right after all.

                Keith yanked back the red duvet and pulled as many pillows as he could towards him before assaulting his sister with them. Morning pillow fights were definitely _one_ way of waking her up.

“Oh my god! Dammit Keith!” she punctuated each sentence with a blow to his head with the body pillow. “WHY ARE YOU LIKE THIS?!?”

Keith was laughing too hard at her to reply as he tackled her misjudging the edge of the bed and landing them both on the pile of duvet and pillows on the floor.

“You. Suck. So. Fracking. Much.” She hit him five more times with the body pillow.

Keith snorted, “You said to fight you. So I did. Also, Shiro isn’t here to call you out on your swearing.”

Pidge stuck her tongue out at him, “Yeah well it’d reflect poorly on your parenting if we went home for Christmas and I was swearing like a sailor.”

“Fair enough.”

“Also, with our luck, he’ll be here tomorrow anyway.”

“Nah, he’s been texting me about how much he trusts us to be mature adults.”

“Oh god, do you think he hit his head and forgot who we were?” Pidge’s eyes were as wide as teacups.

“Pfft, nah,” Keith rolled his eyes at her, “but he probably has more faith in us than we deserve. Come on, pancakes are probably getting cold. And there’s bacon.”

“BACON!” and she was up and running out of the bedroom at top speed.

“Careful—” there was a crash.

“Dammit! Why the F— do we have a coffee table?!?”

_Shiro, you definitely have too much faith in us,_ Keith shook his head as he picked up the bedding and threw it onto the bed; future problem.

 

                Breakfast was an ordeal, but they survived. Getting both of them out the door by 8:35AM was near impossible and Keith wasn’t too sure how he managed it even if his little sister was fifteen years old and perfectly capable of feeding and clothing herself.

“God, I feel like I need to apologize to Shiro for being such a pain as kid,” Keith said once they’d made it to the Garrison-U campus.

Pidge frowned, “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“That it took you twelve minutes to brush your hair and it’s shorter than mine,” he replied smugly.

“You. Suck,” she slapped his arm lightly. “And, I love Shiro more than you.”

“I’d be concerned if you didn’t,” Keith replied honestly.

The teasing left Pidge’s face, “Keits, no. Stop. Bad negative thoughts. No!”

He took a deep breath and dodged a person who all but walked into him because their attention was glued to their phone, “I just don’t know how we’re gonna get through without him. I’m usually confident and sure, but Kates I don’t wanna mess this up for you.”

“You’re a great big brother, Keith. Stop worrying, you’ve gotten me to school on time. Look my classroom is right there,” she pointed down the hall before locking eyes with him. “Keith, I’m fifteen, not five. I know you and Shiro baby me, but it’s time I grow up a little too. We’ll make it work. I’ll try not to be as difficult to wake up tomorrow. Don’t get discouraged. We have each other. You help me and I’ll help you, okay? All that sappy family stuff that Shiro always talks about, yeah?”

He laughed and looked away, he could feel his face heating up, “You’re definitely channelling your inner Shiro, sis. But, thanks Kates.”

“Don’t get used to it,” she was grinning cheekily when he looked back at her.

“Okay, it’s 8:57, get to class, Pidgeon,” he shooed her away with a pat on the head.

“Don’t call me that!” but he’d already walked away.

 

                An hour and a half later, Keith found out that the guy sitting next to him in astrophysics was very good at impersonating a 1920s noir detective.

“Smooth like the cigarettes I smoke, cold New York evening walking down the street sometimes I wonder, where am I going? I’m—too drunk to know where my house is.”

Keith choked, “What the hell?!”

“Is something wrong, Mister Shirogane?”

“No, no sir,” he reddened and glared at the boy next to him.

                The guy—Lance, he found out ten minutes later—continued to make comments in his noir detective voice for the rest of the class. Keith had to admit that although it was incredibly frustrating to stop himself from choking on air every time he said something, Lance was kind of funny.

“Hey, Shirogane! Mullet man!” Lance called after him in the hallway.

Keith turned, “Keith.”

Lance came up short in front of him, “What?”

“My name is Keith,” he rolled his eyes. “And, it’s not a mullet. My hair just grows this way and it’s comfortable.”

“Sure, whatever you say,” the other boy grinned. “So, professor Iverson, eh?”

“Oh god,” he sighed long-sufferingly. “If I didn’t need this class so bad, I’d quit. Who gives a full lecture on the first day?”

“The worst man alive, apparently,” Lance agreed as they made their way outside.

“Well, at least the homework doesn’t seem that bad,” Keith said in an attempt to shrug off his pessimism.

His companion frowned, “It’s a six paged paper due by the end of the week!”

“So? The material wasn’t that hard—”

Lance cut him off, “Oh sure! Mr. ‘I’m so smart and can do astrophysics in my sleep’ thinks it’s not that bad. Yeah well, I won’t have any trouble with it either.”

                Keith stopped and looked at him; Lance seemed nice enough, he had made funny comments throughout class and was pretty easy going. Right now, though, he seemed irritated, maybe even mad at him. Keith couldn’t fathom why, Lance was obviously intelligent and really _wouldn’t_ have any trouble with the assignment.

“Um…I’m sorry?” he decided on the tactic that Shiro had taught him; just apologize when you’ve offended someone and move on regardless of if you understand why you offended them or not—well, maybe he’d modified Shiro’s advice a little.

Lance kept walking for a while, “You weren’t trying to show me up, were you?”

“No, I wasn’t,” Keith was still confused. “Look, I—ah, need to go meet my little sister for lunch.”

“You have a sister?” his classmate’s eyes widened. “Wait, there are _two_ of you?”

“Most people have siblings? So yeah. I live with her off campus, she’s studying computers.”

“You live with your sister? Where? I live with my best friend, Hunk, off campus as well.”

“I’m not really sure I want to tell a stranger where my sister and I live,” Keith frowned; why was interacting with people so hard?

“Ah yeah, right,” Lance palmed the back of his neck.

He shrugged and pulled out his phone to look at the time, “Anyway, I should get going, her class finished twenty minutes ago—”

“Keith!” Pidge’s voice called out as she came running up to him.

“Oh hey Katie,” he grinned at his sister. “Lance, this is my sister.”

                When he looked back at Lance, Keith would’ve paid a good sum of money to be able to capture the other boy’s reaction on tape. Lance’s jaw was hitting the ground as they stood in the middle of the campus grounds, his head was going a mile a minute as he went from staring at Keith to Pidge and back again.

Keith took a moment to contemplate how this must look to Lance. Pidge was fifteen and very much caucaisan while he was nineteen and obviously Korean—if that was what was challenging Lance, he might die of an aneurism if he found out that their older brother was Japanese. Then of course, Keith supposed there were their different fashion styles; he was wearing his red jacket and black t-shirt and skinny jeans and burgundy chucks, while Pidge had decided to be preppy today in her green checkered button down and forest green skinny jeans. Her cream sweater was tied around her neck and Keith—who sometimes forgot she was fifteen—was struck by how grown up she looked, but at the same time by how much of a child she really was. They certainly didn’t look like people who would _know_ each other much less siblings.

This was especially apparent as she straightened her large hipster glasses and cocked her head to the side, “Keits, did you make a friend? Wow! I thought you were gonna be a hermit forever, but Shiro said that college was where you found your niche.”

“He is definitely not what I would call my niche,” he frowned using his thumb to gesture at Lance. “Actually, I think we broke him.”

“Hello? Keith’s new friend?” Pidge waved her hand in front of his face.

“Don’t slap him,” he told his sister quickly. “It’s um…impolite according to Shiro.”

“You slapped Allura once, right?” she snickered. “See, _I_ know better than to slap strangers.”

“She wasn’t a stranger, at the time!” Keith defended. “I’m just reminding you…”

“You’re the one who doesn’t know how to make friends! I already made a friend in my class this morning.”

“I don’t like people, you _know_ this Katie!”

Lance decided on that precise moment to come back to his senses, “Wait, _this_ is your sister?”

“I told you she was younger, right?” Keith frowned turning to him.

“Yeah, but she’s like _twelve_!”

“ _FIFTEEN!”_ Pidge shrieked indignantly while Keith snickered.

“So like twelve,” Lance continued, “and she looks nothing like you?”

Pidge raised an eyebrow as Keith stopped laughing.

“I mean, not that that’s an issue—” their companion backpeddled quickly. “I mean, dammit. Sorry, that was insensitive. My bad. Way to go Lance, you suck at making new friends. Good job buddy.”

He was going to continue berating himself when Pidge pulled a Shiro move and put her hand on his shoulder, “It’s okay. Relax man, Keith and I are adoptive siblings. It’s fine, we’re used to getting weird looks. He’s just my big brother and as long as you’re nice to him I won’t kick your ass.”

“Hold up, I can take care of myself, it’s _you_ that Shiro was worried about!” Keith sputtered.

“Shut up, I’m making peace with your friend.”

Lance smiled slightly, “Wow, you two really _are_ siblings.”

“We like to think so,” Pidge smirked while Keith continued to protest his abilities to make friends and judge character. “He’s a handful sometimes. Try not to mind him too much.”

“Right, well it’s nice to meet you, Katie,” Lance held out his hand. “I’m Lance Martinez.”

“Pidge,” she frowned not taking his hand. “Everyone except Keits calls me Pidge. No one else is allowed to call me Katie.”

“Kates,” Keith said softly and put an arm around her before turning to Lance. “She’s touchy about her name, sorry.”

Lance’s smile had faltered a little, but he nodded, “Yeah, okay. Nice to meet you Pidge.”

The girl grinned from under her brother’s arm and sized his hand, “Cool! Good to meet you Lance!”

Lance’s phone emitted Lindsey Stirling’s _Shatter Me_ and he made an apologetic face before picking up, “Hey Hunk? Yeah I’m on my way, was just talking to some people. Huh? New friend? Her name is _what now_?” he looked over at Pidge.

“ _You’re_ Lance that Hunk was talking about,” she grinned.

The other boy laughed into his phone, “Bro, we’ll be right there. I was just meeting her and her brother.”

“What’s going on?” Keith looked at his sister confusedly.

“I met Lance’s best friend, Hunk, in my class this morning,” she explained tugging him along.

“So, you’re in Hunk’s programming class?” Lance asked as he caught up to them.

“Yeah, he was telling me that he lived with his best friend in the same building as me and Keith,” Pidge said brightly. “What floor are you guys on?”

Keith protested at that, “We shouldn’t be telling strangers where we live, Katie.”

“We’re not strangers anymore!” Lance grinned at him. “We live on the eleventh floor, number 1107.”

“Oh hey, you’re just below us,” he couldn’t help commenting.

Pidge grinned as they stopped at the table Hunk was sitting at, “See? Lance is right. We’re not strangers. Keith meet Hunk. Hunk, this is my brother Keith.”

The large Polynesian boy stood up and shook Keith’s hand, “Nice to meet you! Pidge was telling me about how you guys just moved here from home.”

Keith grinned, somehow Hunk made him feel really at ease, “Yeah, it’s a bit of a weird transition without our older brother looking after us.”

                Over the course of lunch, Keith learned that Lance was Cuban and had a very strict skin care regime in order to keep his olive skin healthy in the North American climate and that Hunk loved to cook and would be more than happy to help them out. He also learned that Pidge wanted to join the robotics club with Hunk, which he was all for since she would have someone to look out for her—although, he didn’t her that; he valued his life. Lance was loud and care free, but Keith’s suspicions of him being very intelligent were confirmed by his best friend who commented that he’d been top of their graduating class.

                All in all, when Shiro video called that night, Keith only had good things to tell him as he and his sister curled up in his bed.

“You two are okay, then?” Shiro checked for the fourth time.

“Yeah,” Keith nodded smiling. “We’re doing fine. We had to explain that we were adoptive siblings, but that’s a classic, right?”

His older brother nodded sagely, “You can’t really get out of that one.”

“We also had Katie-Pidge moment, but I think it went okay,” he continued thoughtfully.

Shiro frowned at that, “You okay there, Pidgeon?”

“Don’t call me that,” their sister replied weakly. “I’m alright Shiro, Keits helped. I dunno why it bothers me so much.”

“It’s not easy to handle tragedy, baby bird, it leaves scars,” their eldest brother said softly using his nickname for her.

“Can we not talk about it, now?”

Shiro nodded understandingly, “Everything else is okay?”

Keith wrapped his arms tighter around their sister, “We’re still alive, we’ve eaten, and Katie’s half asleep.”

“Am not,” she protested weakly from beside him with her green lion tucked under her chin.

“It’s pretty late anyways,” Shiro replied. “You two should get some sleep, class tomorrow and all.”

Keith was about to reply when Allura popped into view behind his brother, “Allura!”

“Oh hey, Keith! Is Pidge there? How’re you two settling in?” She smiled brightly and took the phone away from Shiro. “Your brother has been fretting like a mother hen; it’s ridiculous.”

“Thought you said you had faith in us, Shiro,” Pidge grinned. “It’s good to see you, Allura.”

“Thanks for taking care of him while we’re gone,” Keith said smirking.

“Hey, I’m fine!” they could hear Shiro in the background.

“Yes, dear. You’re very fine,” Allura laughed.

Keith and Pidge snickered while the image on his phone got blurry as the Shiro wrestled his girlfriend for the phone.

“Okay, that’s enough! You two need rest, Good night!” he said with finality, although there was no real heat to it.

“Good night, Shiro,” Keith smiled, “you too, Allura.”

“We love you,” Pidge added quietly as she settled down.

“Night you two,” Allura smiled into the camera. “Remember, you can call no matter what and no matter when okay? I love you both.”

“Don’t get sappy on us,” Keith rebuked softly.

“Yeah, you’re supposed to be the cool one,” Pidge reminded her teasingly.

Shiro scoffed at that, “Hey I’m cool!”

“Yes, honey, you definitely are,” his girlfriend said placatingly and kissed him on the cheek.

Keith and Pidge laughed before bidding them both good night.

_Maybe we will make it through this okay,_ Keith thought as he looked at his sister sleeping soundly beside him; sure, they were a little unconventional, but family could make it through anything, right?

_God, I sound like Shiro. It’s definitely time for bed_.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading!  
> Comments make me smile so much so please do so if you have the time.  
> Much love.  
> Maze x


	3. Accidents Happen

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The one in which there is some klance and Keith has a rough day but it's not as bad as Pidge's day.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I apologize in advance, but it's fluffy I swear. Also this is entirely self indulgent.  
> Enjoy?

Two weeks after meeting Hunk and Lance, Pidge found herself alone at home without any food. It wasn’t that they’d eaten all of the food Shiro had made them in the space of a week and a half—okay no; that was exactly what had happened.

She sighed despairingly and stared at the meagre contents of the fridge, _We really need to learn how to cook._

Shiro was the cook; he took care of meals, grocery shopping and anything that had to do with nourishment be it physical or emotional. Without him, she and Keith had been living off of pancakes for breakfast and dinner; they bought lunch on campus most of the time.

“Alright,” she pulled out her tablet, “Google, don’t fail me now. There _has_ to be something I can make with—what is this thing?”

Being a computer genius Pidge could do, but when it came to identifying whether something was a fruit or a vegetable she was drawing a blank. Keith was decidedly better suited for making meals, but he was at his kickboxing class to help him vent his anger or something.

“Why does he even need to vent his anger? He’s a super sweet person,” she muttered to herself as she continued to skim through Wikipedia trying to figure out what the ingredients in the fridge actually were. “He sleeps with a fracking _Lion Plushie_ for crying out loud!”

**Bzz.** Her phone. Shiro.

_Hey, just checking in. Are you okay?_

_“Fine, just trying to figure out what this is,”_ she promptly attached a picture of the vegetable—fruit?—that she was holding.

**Bzz. Bzz.**

_That’s an avocado, Pidge._

_Where’s Keith? Have you eaten? Are you ACTUALLY okay?_

“Oh my god,” she muttered and hastened to type as response. _“I’m okay, Shiro. Very okay. I’m working out what to have as a snack until Keith gets home. He’s at kickboxing. Why does he even need to do that anyway?”_

She stared around the empty apartment and suppressed a shiver; although she’d never admit it, Pidge hated being home alone. When she’d still been in high school, someone had almost always been home with her; Shiro would occasionally ask Allura to come by and stay with her when he and Keith were out. It wasn’t that she couldn’t take care of herself, it was just strange to be by herself. She never answered phones or the door at home either; they kind of gave her anxiety anyway.

With an afterthought she added, _“Yes, the door is locked and the chain is on.”_

**Bzz. Bzz.**

_Good, as long as you’re okay._

_Keith needs to vent his anger according to Dr. Martins. Kickboxing is good for him._

Pidge frowned, “Yeah well, kickboxing means he doesn’t get home for another hour and I don’t like it.”

Instead she typed: _“Yeah, I know. Um…is cereal an okay snack?”_

**Bzz.**

_I need to teach you two how to cook, what have you been eating?_

_“Pancakes..?”_

**Bzz.**

_OH MY GOD! Maybe I should hire a house keeper for you two. There’s this really good service I heard a colleague talking about._

_“SHIRO NO! We can do this. No,”_ she kind of wanted to throttle her brother. _“We’re fine, we can manage. We’re not spoiled brats who go to college with a house keeper/nanny!”_

**Bzz.**

_Fine, but I’m going to email you grocery lists from now on._

_“Okay, yeah, we might need that.”_

Eventually, Pidge decided on _Lucky Charms_ as a decent after school snack and put on an episode of friends in the background. It helped her feel less alone as she texted Shiro until he had to go. The apartment felt a lot bigger when Keith wasn’t home; she could always hear him playing videogames or brewing tea while he read whatever philosophical book his therapist had recommended. Keith was weird like that; he enjoyed philosophy, but had built a motorcycle in his year off waiting for her to finish high school. Her brother was decidedly an odd one.

“If only you’d bothered to learn how to cook, Keith,” Pidge mused as she finished her cereal.

_Knock. Knock. Knock._

She froze, _Who would be knocking at our door?_

_Knock. Knock. Knock._

Taking a breath she walked over to the front door, she was too short to reach the peephole, but she carefully turned the knob leaving the chain on.

“H-hello?” Pidge hoped she sounded confident and not as anxious as she felt; she was fifteen years old, she could answer a door!

“Hey Pidgeot!” Lance grinned widely through the crack between the door and its frame. “Keith mentioned he had a Wii-U hooked up and we don’t have homework so we thought we’d come over and hang out.”

“Don’t call me Pidgeot,” she grumbled. “Keith’s not home, he’s at kickboxing.”

Hunk smiled reassuringly, “That’s alright, we can keep you company if you want? We haven’t eaten yet, if you want I can cook up dinner for you guys?”

Pidge did like the sound of that, Hunk knew how to cook and he could probably identify all the stuff in the fridge and cupboards. Besides, she really didn’t like being home alone, but—

_Am I even allowed to open the door?_ she wasn’t sure.

“Give me a second, okay?” she decided and closed the door again.

Keith was at kickboxing and didn’t have his phone on him; she wouldn’t be able to reach him until he got back home. Shiro was at work, but he would answer if she called. Did this warrant a call? Was she allowed to let her and Keith’s friends into their apartment? Being fifteen and in college was a lot harder than she’d thought.

Pulling out her phone she called Shiro.

“Pidegon? Is everything okay?” he sounded concerned right off the bat.

She sighed, “Calm down Shiro, it’s fine. I’m fine.”

“You just never call, sorry,” her big brother did sound very repentant.

“It’s okay,” Pidge smiled. “You’re allowed to worry. Um, am I allowed to open the front door?”

“What?” a tone of confusion coloured his voice.

“The front door, can I open it? I never let anyone in the house when I lived with you so I don’t know if I’m allowed to,” she was feeling stupider and stupider by the second. “Keith and my friends are outside, but I’m not sure if I’m allowed—”

Shiro snorted on the other end of the line, “Yeah, Pidgeon, you’re allowed to open the door for your friends.”

“It’s a dumb question, isn’t it?”

“Not really,” he had stopped chuckling. “You never did it at home, it’s normal you don’t know what to do when you’re away from here. It’s okay. I have to get back to work though.”

“Okay, Shiro. Sorry for worrying you,” Pidge exhaled to calm her nerves and tacked on. “Love you, bro.”

“I love you too, Pidge,” she could hear the smile in his voice as he hung up.

 

Twenty minutes later, Keith walked into the apartment and froze as he took in the sight of his sister sitting on the island attempting to explain to Hunk her preference of spices without any real knowledge of what spices were. Lance was lounging on the couch with a wii wheel in hand.

_What the hell is happening?_ he stopped short letting the front door close behind him.

In the past few weeks, Lance had graduated from “the guy who does impressions in astrophysics” to “the cute guy who sits next to him in astrophysics” and “the hot latino boy he has lunch with on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Fridays.” Keith was not prepared for Lance to become “the amazingly beautiful man lounging on his couch playing with his Wii-U.”

_I’m so screwed. Why does he have such long eyelashes? And such pretty eyes?_

“Why the hell are there people in our house?” the words fell out of his mouth before he could process that they probably weren’t the most welcoming ones.

Pidge turned around to look at him owlishly, “Shiro said it was okay,” she immediately looked embarrassed that the words had come out of her mouth.

Lance snorted, “Wait, did you call your big brother to make sure you could let us in?”

Pidge turned even pinker.

“Yes, she did,” Keith bit out, “like a _responsible_ person.”

Lance looked slightly ashamed of himself but kept going, “She’s in college and technically lives as your roommate—”

“She’s fifteen,” he really wasn’t in the mood for a spat with Lance, what did Dr. Martins say about deep breathing again? “She’s still very much a minor.”

“ _She_ is right here,” Pidge had regained control of herself. “And, for the record, I’m responsible enough to make my own decisions.”

Keith turned to his sister, “I know, it’s fine Kates.”

He walked towards his bedroom to drop his bag; he noticed Hunk had simply continued to do whatever he was doing in the kitchen. Was he cooking? God, Keith felt like an ass.

Mastering himself as best he could, he closed his eyes and didn’t turn to face the main part of the apartment, “I’m sorry, I was caught by surprise. It was rude of me to—”

“Hey,” Hunk cut him off. “Don’t apologize, Keith. It’s okay to be surprised by people in your house; we should’ve texted you.”

He let out the breath he was holding and turned to smile at his friend, “Thanks, man. I’ll just shower and be right there to help you. I can’t cook on my own, but I’m a quick study and a good assistant. Unlike _some_ people.”

“HEY!” but Keith was already at the other end of the apartment ducking into the bathroom.

Lance, Keith learned, was a good teacher when it came to common curtesy. The Cuban boy often choked or made some sort of painful sound when Keith broke a social rule. After his shower, Keith learned that walking through his apartment wearing nothing but a towel hanging low on his hips was _not_ acceptable well-adjusted behaviour.

“You _can’t_ just do _that_!” Lance squeaked as he covered his eyes and _very_ red face with his hands.

Pidge and Hunk were in stitches in the kitchen, his sister had, in fact, slid off the island because she was laughing so hard and wheezing so much that Keith worried she was going to have an asthma attack. Hunk was chuckling and had had to put down the salt he had been hold in favor of clutching his side.

Keith grinned; Shiro said the best way to handle laughter inducing behaviour is to laugh along, not get angry, “Well it’s not _my_ fault you can’t control yourself,” and had continued on to his bedroom.

Lance was still protesting and squeaking behind him as Pidge and Hunk roared with even more fervent laughter.

 

A week or so later, the quartet was sitting together having lunch on a Wednesday; the one day where they all had a break at relatively the same time. Lance and Hunk were trying to explain that _Sharknado_ was a “classic” and they simply _had_ to watch it at their next movie night—those had become regular after the first time Keith had come home to find their friends in the apartment after kickboxing. Pidge was adamant that it was trash and Keith was just laughing at the whole scenario.

“That movie has to be worse than sitting through Keith’s violin practices during his first year,” Pidge said with finality. “And _that_ has been qualified actual torture by everyone involved including Keith!”

He shuddered remembering his first few years of violin, but still grinned and tried to defend it, “Hey, mom really wanted me to pursue music! And she loved my shows.”

“Mom would have loved you if you burned the house down and murdered all of us in our beds,” Pidge muttered darkly.

Lance snickered, “I can’t decide what’s funnier, ‘Bad-boy’ Keith all dressed up playing violin terribly or the fact that you were most definitely a mommy’s boy.”

Keith stuck his tongue out at him, “I’ll have you know that I was first chair for a long time.”

Hunk looked impressed, “So you’re actually _really_ good? How long have you been playing?”

“A while…” Keith scratched the back of his neck. “Since I was five.”

“That’s really great, do you still practice and stuff?” the Polynesian boy’s face had lit up so much. “My sister plays back home, but since I’m here and she lives so far away with her husband and kids I never get to hear her play anymore.”

“Um, yeah, I practice to keep up, but I—um, don’t perform anymore,” he said softly then something akin to the affection he felt for his siblings prompted him to add. “I can play for you sometime, if you want.”

He never got to hear Hunk’s answer, however because it was at that moment that he heard Pidge make a choking sound and drop his sandwich. Keith felt the whole world slow down as he realized that she’d taken a bite out of his sandwich and was having an allergic reaction to the mustard. Without stopping to think, all but deaf to Lance’s panicked questions, he reached into his bag and pulled out an Epi-pen and stabbed his sister in the leg with it. Shiro had had him practice it over and over again in case something happened while they were out and away. _Shiro_ had always been there when Pidge had a reaction.

“Call 911,” he screamed as he pulled her close to him and rubbed her back. “It’s okay Kates, just try to remain conscious, okay?”

She was in so much pain.

The whole thing passed in a blur; there were sirens and paramedics and he vaguely remembered passing Hunk his house keys, Pidge’s backpack as well as his own as Lance explained to the paramedics that Keith was in fact her brother and needed to go with her immediately. The Cuban boy with tears in his eyes was the last thing Keith remembered before he found himself in the emergency room with Pidge on a stretcher being shepherded away.

 After an eternity, she stabilized; she was unconscious from all of the allergy medication and had a breathing apparatus hooked up to her face for a while, but the doctor had come in and told him that she would be perfectly fine. She was still under observation for the next twenty-four hours, but she would be okay. He’d also helpfully written both of them notes excusing them from class for the rest of the week due to family trauma.

**Bzz. Bzz.** Keith had texted Shiro sometime earlier, not trusting himself to remain calm if he called.

_How is she?_

_How are you, buddy?_

Keith took a deep breath, _I feel like the worst big brother in the whole world. I’m so useless, I should’ve told her the sandwich had mustard, what the hell was I thinking? She’s hurt and in so much pain and it’s my fault._

Instead he wrote: _“She’s okay. Doctor says she’ll be fine. She’ll have to take steroids for a while though, she won’t like that.”_

**Bzz. Bzz.**

_She never does like that; this has happened before. She’ll be okay._

_How are you, though? Beating yourself up, I’m guessing?_

Shiro knew him too well, _“Yeah well, it’s my fault for not being more careful. Now she’s hurt.”_

**Bzz.**

_Keith, you’re taking too much on yourself. Accidents will happen. I’ll be there to pick you guys up, okay?_

_“Yeah, okay. Our friends Lance and Hunk might be at the apartment. I gave them our stuff to take back.”_

**Bzz.**

_Okay, see you in a bit. Don’t hurt yourself thinking too much, kiddo._

Keith turned back to his sister and took a deep breath, _I need to be strong for you, Kates. Even if I am the worst big brother in the history of big brothers._

“I’m so sorry, Katie,” he mumbled and kissed her forehead.

 

Shiro picked them up the next day after he drove up and settled into the apartment; there was no point for him to come up any earlier given that Pidge was under observation. He was reining in his mother hen instincts in as best as he could when Pidge and Keith loaded into the car. Keith looked like hell and Pidge didn’t really look much better.

“How’re you two feeling?” he asked after he’d hugged both of them and kissed them on the forehead; neither of them had protested, it was a testament to how tired they both actually were.

“Like I couldn’t breathe for five solid minutes and then was doped up with enough antihistamines to knock out the entire US army,” Pidge muttered letting her head drop onto Keith’s shoulder; they had opted to sit close together in the backseat while Shiro drove.

Keith frowned, “Like I haven’t slept in two days, mostly.”

Shiro nodded, but didn’t comment.

It was a silent drive home as Shiro tried to figure out how he was going to control his own urge to quit his job and move in with his siblings to preserve their emotional and physical well-being while comforting Keith. It wasn’t that he blamed Keith, he _really_ didn’t. Accidents happened all the time and Keith had acted in the best way possible and Pidge was safe and after some rest she would be okay. Keith had done the responsible thing and Shiro was very proud of him for it. His protective instincts were screaming, but he knew that he had to trust them. Besides, he couldn’t stay with them much longer than the rest of the day and the night. During that time, he would have to comfort Keith and re-instill his confidence that he _was_ a good older brother and he _could_ keep both himself and Pidge alive through college.

Things were absolutely haywire at work right now and he couldn’t afford to be gone too long. His phone was buzzing non-stop in his pocket about executive decisions he needed to make. Hopefully, Allura would handle that. God, he loved her.

Once both he and Keith had settled a very drowsy and grumpy Pidge into Keith’s bed, he’d beckoned for his younger brother to come sit with him in the living room.

“Keith,” he’d started, but before he could even get any words out the younger man’s face crumpled and Shiro was struck by how _little_ his little brother actually was.

Keith threw himself in his arms and just sobbed, he was a passionate person and felt things too deeply which often resulted in anger and violence when he had been younger, but had since eased itself into a controlled form of passion. Now, Keith sat pressed against Shiro’s chest dousing his shirt in hot tears as he let all of the panic and fear that he’d bridled loose.

“She could have _died_ ,” he mumbled. “It would’ve been _my fault_ for not paying attention!”

“Keith, she’s okay,” Shiro passed a hand soothingly through his brother’s hair. “She’s okay and accidents happen; I once handed her the wrong sandwich and she ended up in the hospital, Keith. It’s okay. She’s fine. You’ll be more careful now. You’re still a good brother, Keith.”

“That’s not true,” he chocked through tears; poor kid was gonna have a hell of a headache tomorrow.

“No, it’s not,” Pidge’s voice sounded from the bedroom doorway as she walked up to the two of them and proceeded to crawl into Keith’s lap forcing him to accommodate her.

Keith looked at her silently as she settled herself.

Shiro was tempted to comment, but he held himself back as Pidge took Keith’s face in her hands and said emphatically, “You are one of the _best_ brothers in the whole world. Okay? Repeat after me. I, Keith Shirogane, am one of the best brothers in the whole world.”

He grinned as he watched Keith mumble through the line.

“And,” Pidge went on.

“And,” Keith sounded a little amused now.

“I will not continue to beat myself up over this accident.”

Their brother took a moment before repeating, “I will not continue to beat myself up over this accident.”

“Good,” Pidge seemed satisfied.

“I’m still sorry, though, Kates,” Keith said quietly as he hugged her.

“I know, but it’s okay because I’m okay.”

Shiro put his arms around the two of them and smiled, “There, everyone is fine. Now how about you two get some sleep and I’ll—”

“Join us for our nap,” Pidge finished for him.

Keith nodded, “The bed’s big enough, let’s take a nap like old times.”

Shiro smiled and followed the two of them back into Keith’s room; it was almost frighteningly like his room at home. The three of them climbed into bed with him in the middle; Keith and Pidge on either side of him pillowed on his chest as if they were small children. He missed them dearly now that they weren’t home, even if it was nice to have Allura practically living with him now.

“Goodnight,” he murmured.

“Night Shiro,” Keith mumbled.

Pidge made a small noise that sounded suspiciously like, “We love you.”

Before he knew it, Shiro was closing his eyes and, tucked between two of his favorite people in the world, drifting off to sleep peacefully.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please take the time out of your day to comment, I read them over and over again and smile and show them to my sister and smile some more. Next chapter will be up on Monday.  
> Thank you so much for reading!  
> Much love.  
> Maze x


	4. The Man Cold

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lance doesn't like to be alone and Keith gets sick. It's just self-indulgent fluff.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As always, this is super self indulgent. I apologize SO MUCH for it being late. I'm SO SORRY. But I hope you like it :)

“Keits!” Pidge hollered from somewhere in the apartment. “Have you seen my galaxy leggings?”

“Yeah, I borrowed them,” Keith rolled his eyes at her antics; as if he’d know where her clothes went.

His sister marched into his room wearing one of his black t-shirts, “Your sarcastic comments are not appreciated right now and are you _sure_ you haven’t seen them?”

He sighed, “Did you check under your bed?”

She paused, “Maybe? Why would they be under my bed?”

“You wore them to sleep a few days ago, maybe you kicked them under your bed when you changed? I don’t know what you do, Katie!”

“You never know any—” Pidge was interrupted by someone knocking on the door.

“Go put some pants on, Pidgeon, we have company.”

“It could be an ax murderer! It’s the middle of the night,” she argued hurrying to her bedroom while he went to the door. “Don’t open it before checking who it is.”

“It’s barely ten, Shiro hasn’t even called yet,” Keith commented as he unlocked the door. “It’s probably Lance—”

It was, in fact, Lance standing in shorts and a pajama top that said “Mornings should start in the afternoon” and holding a blue lion plush. He looked pained and incredibly embarrassed as he stood in the hall in his bedroom slippers with his eye-mask hanging around his neck.

“Hi,” he said sheepishly.

Keith raised an eyebrow, “Um, hi?”

_Why does he have to be so cute?_ his internal voice wailed and not for the first time he prayed for Shiro to be around to help him handle his emotions; Keith was really bad at feelings.

“Can I, um—” Lance’s cheeks were dusted pink as he trailed off and looked away.

“Yeah,” he stepped aside allowing the other boy to enter. “Are you okay?”

“Um, Hunk is away visiting his girlfriend,” Lance said quietly as he moved into the apartment.

Pidge chose that moment to walk out of her bedroom now wearing her galaxy leggings, “Keith who—oh, hi Lance. Are you alright?”

“Ah,” he grimaced and buried his face in his stuffed lion.

Keith followed his gut feeling at that moment, Shiro would’ve been proud, and rested a hand on Lance’s shoulder, “Hunk is out of town for the night,” he explained to Pidge.

Unlike Keith, she understood immediately what had Lance standing awkwardly in their apartment in the middle of the night, “Oh, you wanna stay over?”

Lance nodded helplessly, “I’m sorry, this is so embarrassing, but—”

“It’s okay, you can stay,” he might have been slow on uptake, but he didn’t want Lance thinking he was judging him. “Is something wrong though?”

“N-no,” the other boy paused, “um, I don’t like being alone.”

Pidge smiled and rested a hand on Lance’s forearm, “That’s okay, I don’t like being alone either.”

Keith let out a chuckle, “Don’t worry, you two, I’ll keep you safe from the Boogieman.”

Lance looked at him earnestly, terror in his eyes, “Don’t even joke about that kind of thing, dude, the Boogieman is real and he’s terrifying. He’s got claws—”

“And he grabs your ankle when you get up to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night,” Pidge added helpfully. “He lives off of fear and strikes when you least expect it!”

He wanted to roll his eyes, but Lance and Pidge actually looked serious as they glanced worriedly at each other, “Okay, okay. Bedtime. We still need to call Shiro for the night.”

“You call your brother every night?” Lance asked as Pidge pulled him towards Keith’s room.

“Yeah, he likes to make sure we’re okay,” he explained as he turned the rest of the lights off in the house and made sure the stove was off. “Go ahead and settle in.”

After he brushed his teeth, Keith walked into his bedroom to find Pidge and Lance sitting on his bed in conversation about the Boogieman and daring each other to check under the bed for him.

_Katie, I can believe,_ he thought as he reflected on his sister’s troubled past, _but Lance?_

He supposed that the Cuban boy had grown up with many older siblings and had an overactive imagination, it wasn’t too difficult to picture him scaring himself half to death in the middle of the night over the Boogieman.

_Well, at least he’s pretty._

“Okay, time for bed, are we all sleeping in my bed, then?” Keith asked as he turned off the main light so the room was bathed in the soft russet glow from his bedside lamp.

Lance looked surprised, “Wait, we _can_?”

“Well the bed is big enough,” he noted as he pulled back the duvet. “And, you two are so darn afraid of the Boogieman, might as well.”

Pidge grinned knowingly at him, but he ignored her in favor of smiling benignly at Lance. The brunet was still staring at him incredulously even as he climbed under the blanket.

“I thought you’d just kick us out,” Lance said, finally, as he adjusted his eye-mask on his forehead.

Keith rolled his eyes, “I _am_ an older brother Lance, Katie sleeps in here all the time.”

Pidge huffed at him but said nothing as she burrowed into the pillows and blankets; payback for her meaningful looks.

“Still, I didn’t expect you to be a _sweet_ older brother,” his friend commented. “It’s, um, really cool.”

He wasn’t sure why the compliment from Lance made his face heat up and his heart beat faster, but it did and he barely managed to keep his voice from cracking as he muttered, “Thanks.”

“We should call Shiro,” Pidge said smirking slightly from her position on his other side.

Keith nodded and pulled out his phone.

Their brother answered after two rings, “Hey, how’re you two doing?” he wasn’t looking at the screen yet.

“We’re good,” Pidge answered. “Lance is over!”

“Huh?” Shiro’s face came back into frame as he peered at the screen. “Oh, hi Lance! How’re you doing?”

“I’m alright,” Lance smiled brightly from his spot on Keith’s right side. “Hunk is out of town tonight so we’re having a sleepover!”

Shiro laughed, “I’m glad you’re all enjoying yourselves. Do you need anything?”

Keith smiled knowingly, Shiro had been trying to let go and allow them to grow since Pidge’s trip to the hospital, but old habits die hard, “We’re okay for now, but we’ll let you know. How’s Allura? Have you proposed yet?”

Shiro blanched, “KEITH! What are you talking about?”

Their sister grinned conspiratorially, “Are you _planning_ on proposing soon?”

“We aren’t having this conversation right now,” their older brother frowned. “If you’re all okay—”

Just then there was a creaking sound followed by a clap of thunder and three terrified shrieks. Lance all but climbed into Keith’s lap as Pidge clung to his arm so hard that Keith was sure he’d have bruises. It was a feat that he kept the phone in his hands.

“It’s the Boogieman!” Lance yelped.

“He’s going to eat us,” Pidge wailed.

“Oh my _god_ ,” Keith looked at Shiro helplessly, but the older man was shaking with silent laughter.

“What’re we gonna do!” both Lance and Pidge exclaimed as the creaking sound returned.

“That’s just the wind against the trees, guys. It’s gonna be fine,” Keith tried to reassure them. “The Boogieman won’t get us, I promise.”

Shiro looked at him questioningly, but Pidge and Lance had forgotten Shiro was there at all.

“How can you be sure?” Lance asked quietly.

“Because we have Shiro,” Keith replied matter-of-factly. “Right, Katie?”

His sister nodded confidently, some of the fear had gone out of her eyes, “Y-yeah, Shiro is great at scaring off monsters. He’s got black belt in Karate and he’s really smart and strong.”

Keith squeezed Lance’s hand, “You’re both just working yourselves up with irrational fears, you know that, right?”

Lance looked like he wanted to fight him, but his cheeks were pink and he followed Pidge’s lead and nodded, “Yeah, I’m _probably_ over reacting…”

“Even if you’re not, though,” Keith grinned. “When he goes to sleep; the Boogieman checks under his bed for Shiro.”

His older brother, who had been doing such a good job at being quiet on the phone, burst out laughing at that and Keith felt his cheeks heat up as he lifted the phone to see Shiro overcome by laughter.

After a few more seconds, Shiro sobered and grinned, “Isn’t that what mom told you when we got rid of the bunk bed?”

“Shut up,” he muttered. “We need to go to sleep now. We’re fine, Shiro. Goodnight.”

“Wait,” Pidge was positively gleeful. “ _You_ were afraid of the dark?”

“Everyone is afraid of the dark at some point, Katie,” Keith grumbled and stuck his tongue out at her for good measure.

Lance was chuckling quietly, but clearly not judging Keith for his confession.

“Story for another time,” Shiro said and Keith thought he heard a door open in the background. “Goodnight guys, sleep well.”

“We love you!” Pidge blew a kiss to the camera.

“Goodnight Shiro, you too, Allura,” he called a little louder and smirked when Shiro’s face went pink before he hit the ‘end call’ button.

Lance yawned, “Do we actually sleep now or are we gonna tell secrets and play truth or dare?”

“Oh! Truth or dare is always fun,” Pidge sounded a little too excited.

“Nope!” Keith vetoed that suggestion. “It’s my room and my bed; we’re going to sleep now, losers.”

“Losers?!” Lance protested incredulously.

“You’re both in college and still afraid of the Boogieman,” Keith reached over and switched off the bedside lamp.

“Yeah well, you still sleep with your stuffed lion!” Pidge shot back.

“Oh my god,” Keith sighed exasperatedly. “We’re _all_ sleeping with stuffed lions, Katie.”

“Okay but neither of _us_ has a mullet,” Lance responded triumphantly and even in the dark Keith could see his grin.

“It’s not a mullet and if it was I’d rock it anyway. Now shut up and go to sleep or I’m feeding you both to Cthulhu; he lives under my bed.”

That got him some peace and quiet for a while.

 

It wasn’t all that surprising, given Lance’s dislike for being alone, that a few weeks later he came over after class with Keith for another sleepover. Pidge and Hunk were away for a few days for a robotics competition or something like that and Lance didn’t want to sleep in his apartment all alone. It wasn’t that Keith minded, he quite liked having Lance all to himself, but he wasn’t feeling well and everything just _hurt_.

“You don’t look too good,” his friend commented walking over to him.

Keith sighed as he dropped his backpack on the ground in the living room, “I feel pretty off, I might be coming down with something. I never get sick though.”

Lance frowned, “Everyone gets sick sometimes. Here lemme check if you have a fever.”

Before Keith could react, Lance walked right up to him and pressed their foreheads together. He wasn’t sure if the other boy was doing it on purpose, but he had definitely been more tactile with Keith than usual over the past few weeks. Keith’s brain stopped working as he stared into Lance’s deep blue eyes feeling as though he was drowning at sea; it would be so easy to just lean in and—

“Nope!” Lance took a step back. “I’ll kiss you when you aren’t running a crazy fever.”

“Wha—WHAT?” he felt his legs give out under him; although, he couldn’t tell if it was from shock or light-headedness related to his alleged fever.

Lance looked incredibly concerned as he reached out quickly and caught him, “Keith? Buddy, are you okay?”

“No, I’m not okay!” Keith bit out. “You can’t just _say_ stuff like that!”

“D-did I read that wrong?” he actually looked a little unsure of himself now, his lips forming a _very_ kissable pout.

“No, no. No, you read it right,” Keith told him quickly as he tried to right himself. “You just—um, surprised me.”

“Okay good, but no icky virus ridden kisses, Keithy-boy,” Lance smirked. “Go shower, I’m gonna make you some soup.”

“Fine,” he grumbled and wandered into the bathroom; he really was feeling dizzy and quite awful.

A couple of hours later, Keith was tucked safely in bed after having been all but force-fed soup by Lance; he’d pretended to hate it although Lance was actually a really good cook. He was dosing off when he heard Lance answer the door; it was probably the medicine he’d ordered from the pharmacy.

_Wait, no. I’ve already taken that,_ Keith was too exhausted to frown at the thought; Lance had known that he only took children’s liquid medicine, that was an odd thing for him to know. _Maybe Pidge told him?_

“How is he?” Keith could have sworn it was Shiro’s voice, but that didn’t make any sense.

“He’s okay, asleep, I think,” Lance answered quietly.

“I’ll just go check on him real quick,” Allura. That was definitely Allura.

Sure enough, a few seconds later, his brother’s girlfriend in her waist-length white haired glory waltzed into his room gracefully and sat at the edge of his bed. Keith didn’t like seeing Allura worried, it made him feel funny inside; like he was witnessing a puppy being kicked.

“Oh, you’re not doing well, huh?” she murmured softly and brushed his hair out of his face.

Keith tried to shake his head, but it _hurt_ , so he settled for groaning.

Allura reached over and placed a kiss on his forehead, “You want me to sing to you?”

Keith closed his eyes, he was too tired to deal with his hallucinations at the moment; after all, there was no way that Allura was actually there taking care of him. Sure, she had always been the one to take care of him and Pidge and sometimes even Shiro when they were unwell, but she wouldn’t have made the four hour drive up here just for him, would she? His thoughts were cut off by Allura’s humming as she started to sing the lullaby that she usually sang for Pidge when she was sick and upset.

 

“Are you sure it’s a good idea for her to be in there with him? It looks really bad,” Lance couldn’t help asking Shiro again.

Shiro, Keith’s older brother, was big and intimidating looking, but he was almost the exact opposite of him. Shiro always seemed to have an easy smile on his face and he occupied space in a much more laid back way than both of his younger siblings. Pidge, Lance had noticed, always seemed to try and take up the least amount of space possible and Keith just maintained his own space that he didn’t let anyone into. It had taken a fair bit of pushing and prodding for Lance to get to know him well enough that hugging him or bumping shoulders didn’t feel like a crime against humanity.

“Allura never gets sick and Keith is the man-cold personified when he’s ill,” Shiro said airily as he continued to prepare the frozen meals he had been making for his siblings.

“Oh,” Lance frowned a little. “Keith said he never got sick too…”

“He doesn’t, but when he does it’s bad,” he didn’t seem particularly phased by his younger brother’s illness. “Allura says he’ll be fine, I wouldn’t worry too much.”

“You’re different than you were before,” Lance finally commented, wasn’t Shiro this motherhen figure who freaked out at every little thing?

Shiro smiled and ran a hand through his shock of white hair, “I—ah, I’ve been trying to let go. Besides, unlike Pidge and Keith moving away to college, Keith being sick is something I’ve dealt with before. I know what’s going to happen.”

Lance nodded, “Okay, he’ll be alright then? He was kind of delirious.”

The older man smiled, “He’ll be up soon—”

Lance turned around to see why Shiro had trailed off.

Keith stood in red pajamas glaring at him.

“Oh no,” Lance’s eyes widened, Keith looked _pissed_ , “I—I’m sorry for whatever it is you’re mad at me about?”

“You called _Shiro_?!”

“Well, yeah? I mean, look I know you probably didn’t want me to—”

“Of _course_ I didn’t want you to call him! He’s probably busy!”

“Yeah, but I always call my family when I’m sick or my siblings were sick. It’s what you _do_ when you’re sick,” Lance started to ramble. “I remember when my brother Derick went to college for the first time and caught a cold, he was on skype with Mammy all week because he was afraid he was going to die of dehydration all alone. And when Alexia had the flu in her second year, Derick drove all the way to her school to make her soup and hold her hair while she threw up because Mammy told him to—”

“Lance,” Keith put a hand on his shoulder. “Lance, it’s fine. I’m okay.”

Allura had woken up and come to join them in the kitchen, “You know, Keith, he was just trying to help.”

“I know,” Lance watched as Keith took a deep breath and turned back to him. “Thank you. Having my family here does help.”

Shiro had moved to stand next to Allura and they were talking in low voices.

Lance smiled a little at Keith, “It’s just—you didn’t seem okay, at all. I figured your brother might know what to do and then they were here.”

He watched as Keith’s eyes lit up a little with laughter in spite of the fact that he was obviously still ill, “Yeah Shiro’s like that. Allura too, really.”

“Allura what now?” she looked more amused than threatening although it did seem to be a real possibility.

“You’re lovely,” Keith responded automatically as though this was a common occurrence.

Lance smiled as he watched Keith and Allura bicker as Shiro packed up their things and wrote instructions for the food. He’d never seen Keith look so at home, even though he was sniffling and coughing, it was as though the other boy had turned into a different version of himself. Lance realized, a little startled, that the Keith he was used to was the responsible older brother version rather than the petulant younger sibling that Keith was obviously used to being.

“Lance?” Keith asked as he closed the door behind Shiro and Allura as they headed back home. “Are you okay, buddy?”

“Huh? Yeah, fine.”

“Cool, um…” Keith looked a little uncomfortable as he stared off to the side. “Thanks for—ah, calling them and getting the right medicine and stuff…”

Lance smirked, “No problem, now I can tease you forever about only taking kids’ meds.”

“Sh-shut up!”

“Oh man, wait until Hunk finds out—”

“Hunk is a nice person! He’s way better than you!” Keith cried, but Lance could tell it was half hearted as the other boy sunk into a minor coughing fit. “I can’t deal with you right now. I’m going back to bed.”

Lance reached over instinctively and pulled the smaller boy into a hug, “I’ll be here, just call if you need anything, okay?”

“Um, yeah.”

“No one should be sick all alone.”

Keith smiled weakly as he trudged off to bed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So that happened, yeah? Sorry if it's a little OOC at the end; I kinda rushed it. Mid-terms happened. And are still happening.
> 
> This will be the last instalment for the time being. I am planning on doing more though if there's a want for it, you can comment prompts or just tell me you want more.
> 
> I'm thinking a videogame night, maybe Keith plays Violin at a concert, Katie's night away from Keith, some Shallura? I don't know.
> 
> I will be taking a break because midterms and NaNoWriMo.
> 
> As always, comments are SO APPRECIATED and I re-read them always.  
> Love  
> Maze x


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